According to the ‘Mobility in Germany’ study, an average car currently only carries 1.1 people in daily commuter traffic, with correspondingly high space and energy requirements as well as the resulting CO2 emissions per person and the high volume of commuter traffic. There is often a wide gap between urban and rural areas in particular, for which there appears to be no alternative to the private car. The C2CBridge project is therefore researching alternatives to the private car for connecting urban and rural areas as a supplement to existing public transport services.

The aim of the project is to research an attractive mobility service with a high level of social acceptance as an alternative to the private car for connecting the countryside to the city, based on new, automated vehicle concepts and their networked operation in a ridepooling fleet. Autonomous on-call shared taxis in rural areas are intended to offer a service that enables people to reach their destination efficiently, cost-effectively and in line with demand. At the same time, they will be designed to transport up to four people, wheelchairs, pushchairs and luggage. At mobility stations on the outskirts of the city, it will be possible to switch to conventional public transport or other alternative means of transport such as hire bikes. In addition, the vehicles will be able to travel in convoy in dense traffic in order to take up less space and improve safety and efficiency at the same time. This accessible and needs-based mobility service will better connect rural areas to the city and the public transport services that already exist there.